Does Dave Chappelle (Heart) PWC?

By
Liz Kelly

With apologies to Celebritology's international audience, today we hop on the trendy "hyperlocal" train to talk about a little Beltway buzz.

Dave Chappelle. (AP)

Yesterday, rumors about Dave Chappelle's possible Prince William County, Va. hospitalization made the blogosphere rounds and had fans frantically calling in sightings to one local D.C. radio station. By day's end, a Chappelle spokesperson issued a statement saying the comic was hospitalized over the weekend for "exhaustion" and had since fully recovered. A friend of Chappelle's also came forward to say the comedian had been hospitalized, yes, but in San Francisco.

The truth of the matter seems elusive and we may never know if one of America's funniest dudes was in fact confined to a padded room across the street from Manassas's Red Panda Buffet (where an all-you-can-eat lunch buffet in close proximity to where a major celeb may or may not have been confined is only $5.50).

It's immaterial at this point, because even the thought of Dave Chappelle -- who redefined TV sketch comedy, who managed to make Wayne Brady hip and who ultimately walked away from $50 million Comedy Central contract -- cooling his heels in PWC was enough to make one's mind reel. If true, why would this world-class comic, who chose South Africa for his last destination breakdown, choose one of D.C.'s outer suburbs for the scene of his latest "exhaustion?"

Celebritology field agent Frank Thomason and I wondered the same thing. Last night we came up with some possible reasons that Chappelle may have found himself in Prince William County (whose prior claim to fame was playing host to the Lorena Bobbitt trial) over the weekend. Here's what we were able to come up with:

-- Chappelle was shopping Potomac Mills when he found himself physically overwhelmed by the too-good-to-be-true deals on irregular Mikasa china.